Traduction, messianisme et éthique interculturelle entre déconstruction et reconstruction

The text discusses how a certain «messianic» aspect in translation can shed light on intercultural ethics. Through a comparison of the philosopher Walter Benjamin’s and Jacques Derrida’s approaches to both messianism and translation the objective is to highlight the difference between a deconstructive and a reconstructive approach to intercultural ethics. Given Derrida’s position in the literature on intercultural ethics, the comparison aims to discuss the topic of relations as essential to a reconstruction of intercultural ethics. Understood in its philosophical meaning beyond, but not in opposition to, the messianic theology, «messianic» thinking as well as its vocabulary can help us in articulating not just the deconstructive but also the reconstructive aspects of intercultural ethics.